SOUTH BEND -- Charlie Weis' giddiness over Notre Dame's 41-17 throttling of Penn State Saturday gave way to a Sunday grimace. "Now," the Notre Dame second-year coach said, "I've watched the tape. "It's never as good as you think it is when things went well, and it's never as bad as you think it is when things went poorly, either. Now I'm in the right frame of mind for our 2 o'clock meeting." And with No. 11 Michigan next up, Irish followers should be in the mood to take a look at some lingering questions about Notre Dame, not the least of which is ND's yo-yo action in the national polls. OK, Florida beats Central Florida 42-0 and gets jumped by LSU in the AP poll. Iowa and Tennessee both slip after narrow victories. Michigan, up four spots last week over a blasé win over Vanderbilt on Sept. 2, drops from 10 to 11 after coasting past Central Michigan. BUT No. 9 Florida State holds its position after rallying to beat Troy at home, 24-17. Oh, and the Irish moved back up to No. 3 in the coaches poll and No. 2 in the AP poll. Who or what is to blame for these strange fluctuations? My guess is Jose Cuervo. Is he the one who voted for Purdue? No, but he makes a great tequila. Is Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn back in the Heisman Trophy race? He never left. What about the ex-coaches on the radio who say college defenses have figured out Weis and, thus, Quinn as well? Maybe that's why they're on the radio and not on the sidelines. Notre Dame's defense is starting to draw raves from the national media, yet it's a unit that ranks 63rd in the nation in total defense after two weeks. What gives? At this point in the season, statistics do lie. Because two weeks do not a trend make, because of uneven competition early, national statistics are skewed. Case in point, the team with the 25th-best offense and the 70th-best defense is resoundingly No. 1 in both polls -- Ohio State. OK, so what are the warts on the face of Notre Dame football so far? The offensive line has been impressive in stretches, but has committed way too many drive-killing penalties and has not been consistent in the running game or in protecting Quinn. The defensive line play also has been spotty for a veteran group. Punt returns haven't exactly been electric. Michigan will test the Irish in all those areas plus provide the best running game the Irish have seen this season. Who's better, Georgia Tech or Penn State? Penn State is probably more complete and may have a higher ceiling. Georgia Tech, at this stage, is more dangerous. Does Quinn really make the players around him better? Yes, and that extends to off the field as well. Former high school teammate Chinedum Ndukwe, a senior Irish safety, is sharing a house with Quinn this school year. "Brady is a student of the game, no matter who we're playing against," Ndukwe said. "He'll be in there watching film. I'm hanging out by myself, so I automatically think, I need to get my game film in. So after the homework's done, that's what I'm doing. In the past, I'd sometimes watch a movie. I guess I'm still watching movies, but now it's of the next opponent." What was Notre Dame's best selling point this weekend to Washington D.C., wide receiver standout Arrelious Benn and the handful of other elite prospects who made official recruiting visits to ND? The picture-perfect weather? Maybe. The most lopsided win by the Irish over a Top 25 team in a decade? Good guess. Player development? Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. Ding. ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr., recently released the top five senior and junior draft prospects by position. And Notre Dame is better represented than any school. Among seniors only, the Irish have seven players on the list: Brady Quinn (No. 1 quarterback), Jeff Samardzija (No. 1 wide receiver), Rhema McKnight (No. 4 receiver), Ryan Harris (No. 3 offensive tackle), Dan Santucci (No. 4 offensive guard), Victor Abiamiri (No. 5 defensive end) and Tom Zbikowski (No. 4 safety). No other school has more than three. And those six schools with three include last week's Irish opponent (Penn State) and this week's (Michigan) as well as Alabama, Clemson, Fresno State and top-ranked Ohio State. When you combine the seniors and juniors lists, ND still rates No. 1 with a total of 10 top-five prospects. Darius Walker is the No. 5 running back among juniors, John Sullivan (actually a senior with a fifth-year option) the No. 1 center and Geoff Price the No. 2 punter (same situation as Sullivan). USC ranks second on the combined list with seven players. Michigan, Penn State, Ohio State and Virginia Tech have five each. "Player development is one of the biggest -- if not the biggest -- factors when kids are choosing a school," CSTV recruiting analyst Tom Lemming said. "It's how Miami, USC and Texas got where they've been the past few years. "You can talk about academics all you want, and that is important. But sending players to the NFL is the No. 1 thing the majority of the kids look at. And that's been a thorn in Notre Dame's side the past several years. Some of these guys were recruited by (Tyrone) Willingham, but they were developed by Charlie. "Anthony Fasano and Maurice Stovall, for instance, are two kids that probably wouldn't have been drafted if they hadn't played for Weis. Stovall would have been an overweight second-string receiver and Fasano an underused tight end." Squibs

NBC's broadcast of No. 4 Notre Dame's 2006 home opener vs. No. 19 Penn State earned a 4.8 overnight rating/12 share, the highest rating for a home opener in eight years (5.9/15 on 9/5/98 vs. Michigan). The broadcast also drew the best overnight rating for NBC's Notre Dame coverage since last season's USC-Notre Dame classic (7.9), and the second-best rating for any Notre Dame broadcast since 2002 (5.3 on 11/2/02, vs. Boston College).

Weis is the first Notre Dame coach since Knute Rockne (1918-19) to start each of his first two seasons 2-0.

Notre Dame is one of 36 Div. I-A schools that is perfect on fourth-down conversions so far in 2006, but the only one of those 36 that has attempted as many as five. Last season, the Irish tried 18 and converted 50 percent of them, about the middle of the pack in terms of attempts and conversion rate.

Friday night's pep rally for the Michigan game will be held in Notre Dame Stadium.